Monday, January 18, 2010

Okay we are nerds

We saw this on Bobby Flay's throwdown show (ahh the days of cable!) and have been wanting to try it since. Finally, this Saturday we went on a big Manhattan adventure that involved tea shopping in Chinatown, vinegar sampling at Puro Chile, chorizo and morcilla tasting at D'Espana, and finally the trek up to Harlem to the famed Melba's for chicken & waffles.

I've only had CX&WF once, at Buttermilk Channel so I guess that was my point of reference for this one. BC's chicken is super crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside. With chewy cheddar waffles & a balsamic syrup, I think my hopes were too high. Or my tastebuds spoiled.

Melba's has eggnog waffles with strawberry butter - interesting. Our plates came out within 5 minutes of ordering them so I'm guessing they had these at the ready because they're the most popular dish.

The chicken was decent but the waffles left me disappointed! They were like lukewarm waffle cakes. I wanted crunchier waffles and warm enough so that the strawberry butter would be melting on the way to the table. Not to say that they didn't taste good, just a personal preference. The cinnamon-nutmeg spice blend in the waffles was a nice touch but it didn't really give the chicken a chance to shine.

Need to try making this at home. Alex - you can get that waffle iron you've been wanting now.